The Michigan Legislature adjourned Thursday for the year, ending a 2025 session where a politically divided House and Senate often struggled to reach deals.
The marathon final day saw roughly two dozen mostly mundane bills clear both chambers, capping a session on track to enact the fewest number of new laws in any year since Michigan became a state.
Which is not a problem, said House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township).
“We’re proud, you know. We focused on quality, not quantity,” he said.
“We had a great year and we’re proud that we’re setting a record for the fewest public acts in Michigan’s history in a year,” he said. “But what we’re doing is we have the most quality legislation of any year of Gretchen Whitmer’s time as governor.”
Hall said a transparency law regarding legislative earmarks in the state budget, coming up with a road funding plan, and slowing increases to Michigan minimum wage and earned sick leave initiatives were among the top accomplishments of 2025.
The road funding plan, which relies largely on a new tax on recreational marijuana, is being challenged in court by the cannabis industry. If that challenge succeeds, that blows a hole in the road funding plan.
The minimum wage and earned sick leave laws were in response to a Michigan Supreme Court ruling that the GOP-led Legislature violated the state Constitution in 2018 by adopting two petition initiatives and then gutting them.
Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said she is puzzled by Hall’s pride in the small number of bills adopted this year.
“I think it’s really strange that he’s so proud of not doing his job, so that’s my first impression,” she said.
Brinks said she thinks missed opportunities this year include making health care and housing more affordable. She said the session’s record is also marred by a unilateral action last week by the House Appropriations Committee action to carve $645 million out of the current state budget.
The clawbacks included money for a not-for-profit organization that provides wigs for children who lost their hair due to cancer and another that supports child survivors of sexual assault.
“Unfortunately, it was really very disappointing to see the destructive nature of what the House did last week,” she said, “and that’s a taste that will linger in the minds of many Michiganders as we enter the holiday season.”
This marks roughly the halfway point of the 2025-2026 legislative session.
The Legislature will reconvene in January, which also launches an election year and amped-up tension with every seat on the ballot.
